“America’s Toughest Jobs,” a reality show that features contestants that shift from office jobs to much tougher ones which necessitate manual labor and involve quite a lot of physical exertion, will premiere tonight at 9:00 on NBC.

The show is the latest from producer Thom Beers, who was also behind successful shows such as “Deadliest Catch” (Discovery Channel) and “Ice Road Truckers” (History Channel).

The catch of the new reality show is that it’s based on the lives of U.S. inhabitants that change their comfy office jobs for other ones which are tough and physically-challenging. The show involves 13 participants that will have to face some of the most difficult job positions in the world. The list of tough jobs that contestants will have to cope with includes loging, working on an oil rig, crab fishing, driving on icy roads to extreme fishing and several others. The 13 men and women involved in the reality show include a secretary, a Wall Street executive and a sculptor.

Each week, one of the contestants will get the boot for not rising up to the task. They will get paid for their efforts, but the wages will cumulate in a pot that will eventually be awarded to the “last employee standing.” The estimated pot at the end of the season will reach the sum of nearly $250000 - not a very big pile of dough, some office employees may say, but who said it’s about the money?

The first episodes will show the contestants doing their best to crab fish by using 800-pound submersible cages in the intolerable Bering Sea.

However, many critics said the show focuses more on the toughness of the jobs than on the people involved and their efforts to cope with the situation.